anyone else fed up of new school absence rules

[wonderwall1]

Has anyone else had this increasing pressure from schools since Sept to send ill kids in due to new Govt regs? DD school now keeps calpol in the office to give to children with temp and pain so they can be kept at school. I wondered why there was a space on the medical form to give permission.

Do we want kids staying off school every time they have a cold? Growing up into adults who stay home from work at the first sign of a sniffle? Obviously they shouldn't be in with proper flu, but a child with a bit of a cold can surely go to school.
Hence the threads about snotty children smearing their germs everywhere and getting others ill. Especially exciting for those who have babies at home.

I don't know. People seem just as upset when nurseries do the opposite and won't let kids attend for the slightest cause. Ironic when you pay for nursery and not school. Ok nursery is childcare and school not, but all the more reason for schools to be stricter than nurseries, I.e. to send kids home more readily.....

I remember having the school nurse who would issue two paracetamol and a lie down for 30 mins for practically every ailment. If school's can give a minor treatment that works that's probably best, feeling a bit worse for a whole term catches up with them at this time of year.

Do we want kids staying off school every time they have a cold? Growing up into adults who stay home from work at the first sign of a sniffle? Obviously they shouldn't be in with proper flu, but a child with a bit of a cold can surely go to school.

I never understand this attitude. There are many things I did as a child that I wouldn't do now. I honestly don't understand why we must put our children on the relentless treadmill of life so soon. They have many years of working where they have to pull their socks up and get on with it, I don't think being a bit softer about when they are young will influence how they manage this.

School (government) illness and holiday policy make me feel like I've slipped into the pages of 1984.

Surely at secondary school they can have a couple of paracetamol or ibuprofen in their bag in case?

I was once called into my son's secondary school because he'd complained of a headache so was asked to take him some paracetamol in.

He has a blood disorder which affects his immune system, makes a simple cold 10x worse than in someone 'normal' and last Winter was particularly bad for him, he had a succession of really nasty colds which knocked him out so he had around 9 days off school between mid-December and the end of Feb. School are aware of this health problem, and when he's absent I always email in each day and I add a line in the email about his disorder. I do all I can to minimise time off (hospital appointments are booked for school holidays) but I received a letter from them at Easter saying that because his attendance had dropped below a certain percentage (I think he was at around 92%) the information was being passed onto Education Welfare who would monitor his attendance in future and take it further if necessary.

I went ballistic and spoke to one of the deputy heads about it and he agreed that sometimes it can't be helped, especially in my son's case, but they have to send these letters out when attendance drops to that percentage - no idea what happened to looking at each individual case. Saying that though, there was nothing noted on his records even though it should've been. I arranged for a letter to be sent by his consultant and school promptly lost that so I had to arrange for a duplicate.

After all of that he had 100% attendance during the Summer term and if he gets through tomorrow he'll have the same for this term too.

Surely they only need to be there for morning register to count towards attendance records?
At dds school two registers are taken, one after launch as week as morning. So Monday to Friday has 10 possible attendances and if you miss either am or pm registration it knocks the whole attendance percent down.

Dds school encourage you to take them to get their mark and then leave for go appointments rather than take morning off. Thers been a few morning where I have gone into school with dd and the back if the class line to wait outside her class for her to say yes here, then rush off down to her appointment. She'd have been back at 9.30am anyway but would have been absent had I not popped in with her for register. Same with afternoon appointments that have been at 1ish, rather than collect her lunchtime, break they've asked me to wait until register then get her straight after.

Dd was I'll last week, and because they can't return until 48 hours after the last vomiting or bum explosion she ended up absent for 3 days, despite her being fine, I popped up for work for her to do at home and was told "oh she could have come with you and got her mark"

I understand why, and have no issues with the rule, but I then get letter saying dds attendance is really low and info on how school work with parents to improve it. Asked them what can I do when school say she can't go and should I do what other parents do and not mention sickness and say headache instead, or do they want me to send her in I'll? And isn't the 48 hour rule useless when they would have had her in the class for registration had she been with me. How many other sick children have they done this for? Never got a reply, surprisingly.

I would never give consent for my child to be given calpol if they were at school on a normal day, not on a residential trip or something where I wasn't around to care for them...that would be OK - but I give calpol for fever, normally, and if my child has a fever then they are obviously unwell so I would want them at home in any case.

You rarely just get a fever not resulting from an illness. It's a symptom.

There was a parent at our old school who regularly sent her children in with medications of various types, but they had a lot of ear infections due to an underlying issue so this was sort of fair enough.

DD2 has been sent home from school as soon as she arrived at least 4 times since starting last year. She gets travel sick, she frequently throws up on the bus, on the times she was sent home she didn't manage to deploy her emergency sick bag in time and got vomit on her blazer/jumper/lap. Even though the school know she is fine, and we have offered to leave a change of clothing with them for incidents - they are firm. She has to turn round and go straight back home (after DH has driven out there to get her of course). This is actually the worst possible thing for her, she would do better to have a longer gap between the journeys, and to have lunch before she travels again. And it disrupts her education. But rules are rules apparently.

At least they don't make her stay off for 48 hours though, so there is that...

DC's secondary school has a form to sign to say that a child can be given 1 dose of paracetemol (e.g. for period pain). One of the stated reasons is that they feel it is better for a child to be given 1 dose by an appropriately-trained person in school, all recorded and signed for, rather than for pupils to be carrying and taking their own medication with less control - obviously excepting inhalers.

Other prescription medication - e.g. DD's very string migraine medication - has to be sent in with a letter, and again are kept in school and administered under supervision.

"Do we want kids staying off school every time they have a cold? Growing up into adults who stay home from work at the first sign of a sniffle? Obviously they shouldn't be in with proper flu, but a child with a bit of a cold can surely go to school"

Actually, I don't think it is comparible. Most adults are much more proficient at keeping their germs to themselves than children.

So depending on the severity of the cold, then absolutely I would want a kid staying off. My DD has asthma. "just a cold" for other children is far, far more serious for her.

So annoying to see that schools still don't follow the government advice and instead waste doctors' and parents' time with their own made up rules.

"I work in a school, we're only allowed to give prescribed medication."

"We are not allowed to give meds - secondary school. We have to call parent in to administer tablets - so if your child is ill, you can bring them paracetamol but you have to hand them to your child and watch them take them. We can't even hand them over on your behalf."

Government guidance here:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/306952/Statutory_guidance_on_supporting_pupils_at_school_with_medical_conditions.pdf

"no child under 16 should be given prescription or non-prescription medicines without their parent’s written consent - except in exceptional circumstances where the medicine has been prescribed to the child without the knowledge of the parents. In such cases, every effort should be made to encourage the child or young person to involve their parents while respecting their right to confidentiality.
Schools should set out the circumstances in which non-prescription medicines may be administered"

My kids primary school won't even give prescribed meds! I have to go in daily to administer antibiotics when they've been on them!

My secondary school, I had to bring in painkillers and keep them with the nurse. I couldn't just keep a strip of paracetamol with me in my bag if I started my period and had stomach cramps.

We dish out pain relief to any child who wants it and whose parents have agreed, there are 3 options on the form...

1 - give homely medications as deemed necessary, inform parents after the fact
2- give homely meds after calling parents first
3 - give no homely meds

Means that a kid with a headache or some thing can have some paracetamol and then get back on with their day, or we can give them a throat lozenge or cough mixture or something.

Almost all parents agree to 1 or 2.